My Needles Never Stop!!!

Hello Again!!

My needles have been clicking away the past few days...two of hubby's co-workers are married and having a little girl in October, so of course he asked for some handknits to give them.  No worries...I had a few ideas in mind.

First up, a bunny...I've made a few of these for baby showers, so this has become a go-to pattern for me.  This time I dressed it up a bit by using some alpaca blend yarn.  All this little guy needs is a tail.  The yarn sheds a bit, but I couldn't resist the softness!! 

Then I got thinking...what handknits did I love the most for the Diva when she was a baby?  Of course the sweaters my Mom made were my favorites, but the one thing that got the most attention was a pumpkin hat that a neighbor made for her.  She wore that thing for more than a year, and some of our favorite photos of her are in the hat.  So I decided, October babies MUST have a pumpkin hat! 

With that said, here is another recent creation.  I am quite proud of this hat.  I had never ventured into colorwork before, so this was a big step for me.  I must say, my stitches are carried nicely inside and they seemed to come out pretty even. 

My goal is to design a hat for the bunny too, so this will be a matching set.  If that doesn't work out, I'm not going to sweat it.  I'm happy with both items just the way they are.

I mentioned in my last post that I have been working on squares for some WCOBBS patchwork blankets.  I made this butterfly square the other day.  I need to block it, but otherwise it is ready to get seamed into a blanket.  I now have enough crochet squares to make two full blankets, so that it next on my crafting agenda.  Then I'll start making some more knit squares to finish off a few more blankets.

So, that's what I've been up to this week.  Today is rainy and yucky outside, so we'll see what I can get done inside.

Cheers and Happy Crafting!
Sharon

Meet Burke...the Bunny (and some other odds and ends)

Meet Burke the Bunny. I am so proud of this latest project!!! The pattern is Rabbit by Susan B. Anderson. I was a bit hesitant to try my hand at this little guy, since it involved so many increases and decreases, etc. I still consider myself to be a scarf/blanket aka square edges kind of girl. This also involved double pointed needles for the entire project, and if you know me, you know at I think that double pointed needles were invented by the devil!!! After Burke, I am starting to rethink this theory.

His body is knit up in one big piece...a round ball actually. Susan suggests stuffing the body with a tennis ball, though I decided to stick with good old Fiberfill. Then, the legs and arms are knit on their own and stitched on, and the head and ears are all one piece. I had a few "booboos" along the way, but thankfully I figured out my mistakes and was able to trudge on.

The entire project took me 2 days to do, so needless to say, there will be many more "Rabbits" in my future. I may even pick up some green yarn and take a stab a Rabbit's best friend, "Ribbit".

Along with Burke, I knit up some booties and mittens for a friend's baby that is due next month. These will be shipped off to VT along with my Willoughby blanket.

Well, I'm off to work on a baby bib that I started for one of Craig's co-workers. It will be gifted along with Burke. Then perhaps I'll start another bunny...we'll see.

Cheers!
Sharon